Sometimes key-patterns and spirals are converted into zoömorphic designs by the addition of animals’ heads, as at Penmon, Anglesey; and Termonfechin, Co. Louth. The centres of spirals are also often made zoömorphic, as in the Gospels of Lindisfarne, on the cross at Kilklispeen, Co. Kilkenny, and on an erect cross-slab at St. Vigeans, Forfarshire.

Probably the most wonderful tour de force in the way of zoömorphic sculpture is a pair of panels on the erect cross-slab at Nigg, Ross-shire. Each panel is ornamented with a series of raised bosses arranged symmetrically. The whole of the convex surfaces of the bosses is covered with intricate knotwork, and the background is composed of serpents, the tails of which coil spirally round the bases of the bosses, and in each case enter the circumference at three points to form the interlaced-work on the boss. After innumerable crossings under and over, the tails again diverge at three other points round the base of the boss, and finally terminate in small spirals in different parts of the background.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC DESIGNS

Under the above heading are classed all designs in which the complete figure of a man, or portions of a man are used for purposes of decoration. Human heads occur in metalwork in the decoration of the Tara Brooch[462] and in sculptured stonework on the cross of Muiredach, at Monasterboice, Co. Louth, and on a cross-head from the crannog at Drumgay Loch.

The most remarkable instances of the decorative use of the complete figures of men in the illuminated MSS. are to be found in the Book of Kells. The figures are generally arranged in pairs facing each other, in groups of three triskele fashion, and in nearly all cases the attitudes are extremely uncomfortable with the knees drawn up close against the stomach. The limbs of the different figures are crossed over and interlaced, as in zoömorphic ornament, and the hands are shown grasping either the limbs, hair, or beard of one of the other figures. Sometimes the human figures are combined with figures of birds or beasts.

We have already referred to the incomplete frames of the initial pages of the Gospels with zoömorphic terminations. In the

•   ___
• “Nativitas XPI”

initial page in the Book of Kells the incomplete frame terminates in a human head at one end and two legs at the other. Another initial page in the same MS.—that of St. Mark’s Gospel—has a zoömorphic frame, but the beast’s head is holding a man between its jaws, whilst the man is tugging at the beast’s tongue with his hand.

Groups of four human figures arranged swastika fashion, interlaced and each grasping the limbs, wrists, hair, or beard of one of the other figures, occur on crosses in Ireland at Kilkispeen, Co. Kilkenny; Monasterboice, Co. Louth; and Kells, Co. Meath; and in Scotland on a recumbent monument at Meigle, Perthshire. A human figure interlaced with a bird occurs in two instances on sculptured stones in Scotland, namely, at Monifieth, Forfarshire (now in the Edinburgh Museum of Antiquities); and at Meigle, Perthshire.

FOLIAGE

Leaf and plant motive decoration is entirely foreign to the spirit of purely Celtic Christian art, and whenever it occurs it is generally to be traced to Northumbrian influence. The Book of Kells and the Stockholm Gospels are the only Hiberno-Saxon illuminated MSS. in which any trace of foliage can be detected. There are panels of foliage on the Irish crosses at Kells, Co. Meath; Monasterboice, Co. Louth; and Clonmacnois, King’s Co. In Wales there is an instance of foliage on the crosses at Penally, Pembrokeshire. In Scotland the only sculptured monuments with foliage upon them (excluding, of course, those in the Northumbrian districts of the south) are the erect cross-slabs at Hilton of Cadboll and Tarbet, Ross-shire (both now at Invergordon Castle); St. Vigeans, Forfarshire; and Crieff, Perthshire; on crosses at Camuston, Forfarshire; Dupplin, Perthshire; and on a cross-shaft at St. Andrews, Fifeshire.

The foliage may in all cases be traced back to the Classical vine, the well-known symbol of Christ. It is often much degraded by successive copying, and although the forms of the leaves are often altered beyond recognition the bunches of grapes can always be made out.

SYMBOLICAL FIGURE-SUBJECTS

We have already mentioned most of the figure-subjects to be found in the Hiberno-Saxon illuminated MSS., and on the Irish ecclesiastical metalwork. It remains therefore only now to take the sculptured monuments into consideration.

It was in Ireland alone that a recognised cycle of scriptural figure subjects was adopted for the decoration of the crosses and that in nearly all cases the ornament was relegated to a subordinate position. In Scotland and Wales, on the contrary, Scripture scenes are seldom represented on the sculptured monuments; in Cornwall the only figure subject which occurs on the crosses is the Crucifixion; and in the Isle of Man the figure-subjects are mostly taken from the Pagan Norse mythology.

The following table shows the Scriptural subjects on the sculptured monuments of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Cornwall, and the frequency with which they occur:—

In addition to the above there are the following, which are sacred or ecclesiastical, but not, strictly speaking, Scriptural:—

It appears, then, that the Scriptural subjects of most frequent occurrence in Ireland are the Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, and the scenes from the Life of David; and in Scotland, the Crucifixion, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, the Virgin and Child, and the symbols of the four Evangelists.

The subjects common to both Ireland and Scotland are Adam and Eve, Noah (?), Sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, David and the Harp, David and the Lion, Adoration of the Magi, Flight into Egypt, Miracle of Loaves and Fishes, Crucifixion, Christ in Glory, Agnus Dei, Angels.

The subjects which occur in Ireland, but not in Scotland, are the Three Children in the Furnace, David and Goliath, Baptism of Christ, Resurrection, Last Judgment, Dextera Dei, Twelve Apostles. And those which occur in Scotland, but not in Ireland, are Ascent of Elijah, Raising of Lazarus, Jonah and the Whale, Annunciation, Salutation, Miracle of Healing the Blind, Christ and Mary Magdalene, Lazarus.

Of the subjects on the early sculptured stones of Ireland and Scotland the following belong to the cycle of subjects found on the paintings in the Catacombs and the Sculptured Sarcophagi (A.D. 50 to 450):—

The following subjects belong to the Lombardo-Byzantine period (A.D. 700-1100):—

Thus the early Sculptured Stones and the Hiberno-Saxon MSS. of Great Britain, and the Carlovingian Ivories afford a connecting link between the older symbolism of the primitive Christianity of the Catacomb period and the more strictly ecclesiastical art of mediæval times.

Quite apart from the fact that King David was a type of Christ, and that his pictures formed the illustrations of the Psalter, it is not surprising that he should have been an object of popular worship amongst the warlike and musical Celts, to one side of whose character his heroic deeds in rending the jaws of the lion and slaying the giant Goliath, would appeal as strongly as his talent as a harper would to the other.

A small MS. Irish Psalter in the British Museum (Vit. F. i.)[463] contains two very curious miniatures, one of David Playing the Harp and the other of David and Goliath.[464] The former is interesting, because I think it helps to explain the meaning of a figure sitting on the back of a beast and playing a harp,[465] sculptured on one of the panels of the cross at Clonmacnoise. As I hold, this is intended for David; and my reason for supposing this is, because the throne on which David is seated in the miniature in the Psalter is conventionally treated as a beast.

I am not quite sure whether the boat with men in it, on the stone at Cossins, is intended for Noah’s Ark or not, but a boat of just the same kind is represented on a carved wooden pillar at Olaf’s Church,[466] Nesland, where it is associated with other Scriptural subjects, amongst others the creation of Eve, Samson and Delilah, and David and Goliath. In this case there can be little doubt but that the boat is intended for Noah’s Ark, so that probably the boat at Cossins has the same meaning.

The angels are cherubim, with four wings, and spirals where the wings join on to the body, representations of which are to be seen on the stones at Eassie, Glamis, and elsewhere in Scotland. They do not occur on any of the sculptured crosses in Ireland; but there are instances of angels or the symbols of the four evangelists treated in the same fashion in the St. Gall Gospels, Codex No. 51,[467] and on the Book Shrine of St. Molaise’s Gospels,[468] in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and also on a bronze plaque[469] of the Crucifixion, in the same collection. I have recently discovered a very curious instance of an angel of this kind, with three wings on a cross-slab, with interlaced-work, in St. David’s Cathedral, given in Westwood’s Lapidarium Walliæ (pl. 63, fig. 4), but the wings and spirals only shown, and the head of the angel omitted.

The pair of ecclesiastics, sometimes standing, sometimes enthroned, sometimes kneeling, with a bird holding a circular disc in its mouth between them, is a subject common to the early sculptured stones of both Scotland[470] and Ireland,[471] but the exact meaning of it has yet to be ascertained if we are not to take the instance on the Ruthwell cross as an authoritative explanation of the whole.

As I have already pointed out in my Rhind Lectures on Christian Symbolism, there is a nearer affinity between the subjects chosen to decorate the bases of the Irish crosses and the representations of hunting scenes, horsemen, chariots, etc., on the upright cross-slabs of the north-east of Scotland, than the more strictly Scriptural scenes on the shafts of the Irish crosses. The best examples illustrating this are to be seen on the bases of the crosses at Kells (Figs. 5 and 6), Monasterboice, Clonmacnois, Castle Dermot (Fig. 7), and Kilklispeen.

The chariot on the Meigle slab, now lost, may be compared with the chariots to be seen on the shaft of the cross at Killamery, and on the bases of the crosses at Monasterboice, Kilklispeen, and in Kells churchyard; on the base of the cross in the street at Kells we have the eagle and fish, as on the “Drosten” stone at St. Vigeans,[472] and as in the Book of Armagh; and on the base of this same cross, and on the cross of Muredach at Monasterboice, centaurs occur, in some respects like those on the slabs at Aberlemno, Meigle, and Glamis.

On the base of the Kilklispeen cross is portrayed a procession of ecclesiastics taking part in a most remarkable ceremony. On the south side of the base is to be seem a priest carrying a processional cross, and followed by a man leading a horse, on the back of which is laid the headless trunk of a man, with two birds of prey, or carrion crows, perched on the top.

On the north side of the base are two ecclesiastics on horseback, followed by two more in a chariot drawn by a pair of horses.

On the east side are several beasts, birds, and a man.

On the west side is a central figure, perhaps a bishop, with three ecclesiastics holding croziers on each side of him.

These scenes can hardly be Scriptural; and if they are not taken from the life of some saint, it is difficult to see what explanation remains to be suggested, except that an event of local importance is here commemorated. The bases of the pillar-cross at Llandough and of the great wheel-cross at Margam, both in Glamorganshire, are the only ones with figures of horsemen upon them in Wales.

The symbolism of the shafts of the Irish crosses is so strictly biblical that secular subjects may have been placed on the bases by way of contrast, to indicate the actual world or earth on which the cross stood representing the spiritual world. The eagle and fish may personify the ocean, and the centaur the desert, for which we have the authority of the bestiaries and the legendary life of St. Anthony.

The points of similarity between the ornamental patterns on the stones of Ireland and Scotland raise questions of too much intricacy to be dealt with here; but it may be remarked that figure-sculpture forms the chief feature of the Irish crosses—geometrical, zoömorphic, and foliageous designs being only as a rule applied to the decoration of the smaller panels on the sides of the shafts and to the rings connecting the arms. The upright cross-slabs of Scotland, more particularly those in Ross-shire, approach much more nearly in style—and therefore probably in age—to the illuminated pages of the Hiberno-Saxon MSS. of the best period, than do any of the Irish crosses.

In conclusion, I consider the so-called Celtic style to be a local variety of the Lombardo-Byzantine style, from which the figure-subjects, the interlaced-work, the scrolls of foliage, and many of the strange real and fabulous creatures were apparently borrowed. The Lombardo-Byzantine style was introduced into this country after the Saxons had become Christians; and being grafted upon the Pagan art of the Late-Celtic period, was developed in different ways in different parts of Great Britain. However, it in no way detracts from the artistic capacity of the Celt that he should have adapted certain decorative motives belonging to a foreign style instead of evolving them out of his own inner consciousness. Although his materials may not all have been of native origin, they were so skilfully made use of in combination with native designs, and developed with such exquisite taste, that the result was to produce an entirely original style, the like of which the world had never seen before.